


Will Soon Be Memory

by afewreelthoughts



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afewreelthoughts/pseuds/afewreelthoughts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward spends his last night at Downton with Thomas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will Soon Be Memory

The night before Edward left for Farley Hall, he and Thomas walked together through the town and up into the fields surrounding Downton.  Clarkson thought it was good for him to explore more than the hospital yard.  “As preparation for going back into the real world,” he said, the lilt in his voice belying his seriousness.

They followed their usual route up to the grounds, but tonight Edward kept walking.  He walked at a quick, determined pace, carving a path in front of them with his stick.

Thomas did his best to keep up.  He wanted badly to start a conversation, but felt guilt like a weight on his stomach.  The sun was starting to go down when he took a deep breath and said, “Sorry I failed you."

Edward spoke at the same time.  “Can we sit?” he asked.  “I’m tired.”

Thomas took his arm and led him over to the the top of the nearest hill.  The grass felt wet to the touch when he crouched and ran his good hand over it.  So he unbuttoned his jacket and lay it down.  “Here,” he said.  The sun had begun to set half an hour ago, and now all that remained of the day was a soft orange glow.

“What were you saying, Thomas?”

“Nuthin’.”

“You apologized for something?”

“Getting us lost,” Thomas said.

“We’re lost?” Edward said.  In the falling, failing light, Thomas could not see Edward’s face.  There was only his handsome silhouette in the glow of evening. His voice sounded a trifle amused.

“But then we came over a ridge and I saw the Abbey in the distance, so we’re not lost,” Thomas explained.  God, how he sounded like a fool.

“Oh.”  Edward lay his stick down next to him.  "The sun’s gone down, hasn’t it?"

"You can tell?” Thomas asked.

"The shadows on my eyes change color with the light."

Thomas bit his lip again.  Nothing he said tonight was right.  “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”  Edward took a deep breath.  “And you didn’t fail me."

“Come again?”  Thomas felt as though the air had been squeezed from his lungs.

“You didn’t fail me.”

“I tried to convince Clarkson to let you stay.  Nurse Crawley did, too.  We should have tried harder.”

“Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome,” Thomas said.

"Can we wait here and watch the stars come out?"

“The first ones are out now, sir.”

Edward leaned his head on Thomas’s shoulder.  “Please call me Edward.”

A tingling sense of elation spread through Thomas’s entire body.   Edward’s hair smelled like soap.  “Edward…” Thomas tasted the name on his lips.  He put an arm around Edward’s slender waist.

“How many stars are out now?”

Thomas counted aloud.  “One, two, three, four, five… ten, twelve, thirteen.  Fourteen.”

“I’m going to miss you, Thomas.”

“Don’t say that,” Thomas said.

“Why not?"

“Because you don’t know me is what.  I’m not the nice man you think I am, and I don’t want you…” Edward sighed, and his breath touched Thomas’s neck. “Wasting your concern and love on me.”

Edward lifted his head from Thomas’s shoulder.  “Who I waste my love on is my concern, isn’t it?"

“But - “

“Would you listen to me, Thomas?”

Thomas nodded, then realized the uselessness of that.  “Yes."

“I don’t want to go back to the hospital, not right now, because that means when go to sleep tonight, I’ll have to wake in the morning, and when I wake up, I’ll have to leave.”  Edward wrapped his arms around Thomas’s chest.  “Right now I want to sit here with you, and I don’t want to be told that I’m wrong to want it.”

Thomas felt his heart racing.  “Alright."

Edward lay his head on his shoulder again.  “Are you really that awful?”

“Terrible,” Thomas said.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a request for "a Thomward something that has to do with the song Daylight by Maroon 5"


End file.
